Block 6 - Jesus as Messiah, Fredriksen, Pages 119-154

While the beginning of this section might look like an out of place history lesson about what was going on with Judaism in Judea in the time just before Jesus, Fredriksen is really setting the scene to discuss what it means to speak of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah (a Hebrew word meaning "anointed one", the Greek word for Messiah is Christ). This does not mean that Fredriksen necessarily believes Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, nor does it mean that she is sure Jesus thought of himself as the Messiah. She is beginning with the fact that Christians quickly attributed to Jesus the status of being the Jewish Messiah, even if he did not fit the variety of expectations of a Messiah that were common in Palestinian Judaism in Jesus' time. For Fredriksen, the fact that Jesus is so UN-like any of the popular expectations of a Jewish Messiah surprises her that the Christians would ever think to give Jesus that title. Another factor to keep in mind is that expectations of a coming Jewish Messiah were found only among people who also held apocalyptic expectations that God was about to do something "Big" in the present or soon to arrive end-times.

In the section on Christ in Paul (pages 125-137) Fredriksen examines the way that the earliest Christian writings (the letters of Paul) shed light on the origin of the use of Christ in relation to Jesus. Fredriksen finds it telling that even though Paul uses the term Christ in connection with Jesus more than 140 times, Paul really sees no need to justify his use of the term to refer to Jesus. The word Christ (as the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah) is an assumed piece of information for all Christians and requires no explanation. Indeed, Paul even uses the word Christ in such a familiar way that it is no longer a title of Jesus being God's chosen and anointed savior, but Paul sometimes uses the word as if it is Jesus second name.

Fredriksen does make an interesting connection in this passage, and that is that Paul's use of the title Son of God in connection with Jesus should be seen as part of the apocalyptic understanding of the identity of the Messiah and his relationship with God. So Fredriksen is claiming that the title Son of God in relationship to Jesus must be seen as part of the apocalyptic expectations of the early Christians (see page 126).

Also directly connected with the apocalyptic dimension of earliest Christianity (in Fredriksen's interpretation) is the fact that Jesus' first appearance had not been "messianic" in the sense of a savior figure coming with glorious and overwhelming divine power. But in his second coming Jesus Christ would be with the great and awesome power and authority that the royal Messiah is expected to possess (see page 135).

An interesting detour that Fredriksen takes in her discussion apocalyptic traits of early Christianity is the factor of religious "conversion" in the ancient world. In the Old Testament prophets we find the expectation that in the end-times the nations (Gentiles, pagans, use whichever word you prefer) would abandon their pagan Gods and worship the God of Israel (see page 133). Fredriksen sees this viewpoint as the apocalyptic lens through which to view Paul's insistence that converts to Christianity worship only the Jewish God. It is not just a matter of exclusive monotheism, but it is also required because they were living in the end-times, when these prophecies would be fulfilled.

The conversion of a pagan to the religion of Jesus that Paul preached would require a complete conversion (abandoning one's native gods) and worshiping only the Jewish God (and Jesus). Paul demands that this be understood as the only acceptable worship for Christians. But such converts would be worshiping the Jewish God, but without the protection afforded to the Jewish people, since they were begrudgingly tolerated because they were belonged to an ancient religion. This opened the Christians to all manner of harassment (and even persecution) for abandoning the gods that protected their city and failing to honor the gods of their homeland. But Christianity would not tolerate the interested pagans who participated in Judaism when they still honored their pagan gods. I had always thought that Christianity offered these pagans a way of benefiting from all of God's promises given to the Jewish people without the hassle of circumcision or keeping the kosher and purity rules. I had not considered before the severity of the penalties that the conversion to Christianity might bring upon such pagan converts because they in effect had renounced their native gods (pages 130-133).

When Fredriksen shifts her attention to the title of "Christ" in the Gospels (pages 137-154), she does so because every thing she looks at in Paul's letters presumes everyone would accept and understand that Jesus is the Christ, and that since Paul sees no need to even explain the title of Christ in connection with Jesus, that perhaps the connection goes back to Jesus' earthly lifetime. So Fredriksen is looking for solid evidence in the Gospels that would connect the title of Messiah/Christ with Jesus in his earthly lifetime. Of course this means ruling out any statements that were put into Jesus' mouth after the fact.

In this section most of the discussion is about what Fredriksen perceives as embellishments that the Gospel writers make on the story of Jesus. In particular she spends several pages discussion how the theological motivations of Matthew and Luke directed their presentation of Jesus as the assuredly Davidic Messiah from his birth and that this was evident to those around Jesus (pages 144-148). What is all comes down to for Fredriksen is the crucifixion of Jesus and the apparent consensus of all sources that Jesus was executed for either claiming to be a king or that his followers openly gave him such a title. Otherwise, Fredriksen does not see how this discussion in all the Gospels about Jesus and his kingship would be there unless it is well embedded in the earliest tradition about what happened at Jesus' crucifixion. Therefore, it is the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus that convince Fredriksen that the connection between Jesus and title of Messiah/Christ arises out of the connection between Jesus' condemnation to death and attaching the claim of "King of the Jews" on Jesus.

Fredriksen does not give much historical credence to much of what the Gospels say about Jesus as the Messiah/Christ, but she does make a good argument from a historical critical perspective for placing the origin of that title of Messiah/Christ for Jesus back in the earthly lifetime of Jesus.